Mercy is in trouble. Again. Marsilia, the Tri-Cities vampire mistress, finally learned from one of her underlings that Mercy killed one of her servants, Andre – creator of the demon possessed vampire-sorcerer Cory Littleton - and that Stefan covered it up. Save to say, she’s not pleased about it. When Stefan drops – literally - out of thin air in Mercedes trailer, tortured almost beyond recognition, starved and more than just a little bit dead (as far as vampires can be dead without actually being, well … dead) it’s a blatant death treat. The vampire mistress want’s retribution for Andres demise and though she can’t kill Mercy outright without starting a war with the werewolves, there are enough people Mercy cares about who will most likely suffer Marsilias wrath. Between her panic attacks, a leftover from her previous „adventure“, her mother of all people showing up for a visit and Marsilia breathing down her neck she’s more than a little busy. The chance to take herself out of the line of fire until things blow over, presents itself in person of Amber, a former college acquaintance who shows up at her doorstep. The woman thinks her house is haunted by a ghost and she asks Mercy for help to get rid of it. Strange, but not impossible that she remembers even after all these years, that Mercy supposedly can see ghosts. Hoping to keep her friends safe as well by leaving town for a while she heads to Spokane to check out if there really is a ghost and if so, how to deal with it even if she hasn’t the first clue if that’s even possible. The house where Amber, her husband and her son Chad live is haunted allright but as it turns out, that’s the very least of their problems. There are things going on, far more complicated and sinister than she could have imagined and when she wakes up with fresh bite marks on her neck and no memory how they got there, it’s almost too late. Vampires equal trouble and in this case, even his own kind call him „The monster“and that’s definitely not a good sign for everyone involved. Right in the middle of things, how can it be any different, is Mercy. Of course. A real page turner! A lot of vampire action in this one. Stefan is back as well as Marsilia. Unfortunately. I really hope someday soon that bitch get’s what’s coming to her. Die in a fire vampire scum! Yes, she has her reasons for doing what she’s doing in a twisted kind of logic but she’s a sanctimonious bitch anyway and someone has to put her down. Permanently. Mercy is still struggeling to overcome her nightmares and panic attacks after her close call with Tim and what he did to her. Adam is great, he understands and supports her wherever and whenever he can and I really hope they are finally on a good way, even if some of his pack really need to get over their issues with Mercy being a coyote. What more can I say? I enjoyed every page.

Vampires again, yay! Vampire politics – which I found surprisingly interesting – and a “foreign” vampire as the “threat of the day”. Oh, and a ghost. This and the – often mentioned – great way Patricia Briggs lets Mercy deal with the aftermath of what happened in “Iron Kissed” made for a near perfect read. The Mercy/Sam/Adam triangle is, indeed, resolved, and Adam is on his very best. He holds back. Not only because Mercy has still to deal with a LOT of issues (severe panic attacks among other things), but also because apparently he trusts Mercy to deal with her problems on her own. For example: He once visits Mercy when she’s at one of her Karate classes where she gets into a fight – a very REAL fight, because her opponent is a kind of women-hating psychopath – but doesn’t interrupt. He lets Mercy finish the fight and doesn’t even scold her for it, which, frankly, I would’ve thought completely impossible for dominant, male Alpha Werewolf leaders up until now. And that’s how it’s like through the whole book. Adam might not always be enthusiastic about Mercy’s decisions, but he lets her MAKE them, which is the important part. He doesn’t dominate the hell out of Mercy and doesn’t make her submit, no matter what. And apparently he doesn’t plan on doing that, either. Of course, this book wasn’t entirely flawless. There was a huge “F-U-Mercy, I’ve-absolutely-had-it” moment somewhere in the beginning (around p. 59/60, I think), that had zero to do with the events in book three and everything to do with Mercy being stupid and unnecessarily-martyr-y, which resulted in the very probable possibility that my cousin would’ve gotten a spontaneous gift of seven Patricia Briggs novels, never to be spoken of ever again, but luckily Mercy didn’t go through with her plan and I could continue reading. And then there was, the statement I’ve waited for since book one: “And Ben adores you.” (p. 226) MM-hm. Of course he does. Not to mention the (still present) faery walking stick: “It follows you because it owes you service, Mercy. (...) And because it likes you.” (p. 272) Sure. Yeah, well. Still 4,5 stars because it’s the best book in this series so far (imo). Oh, and... I really hope Marsilia dies a slow and horrible death, and soon. She would deserve every bit of pain, torture and misery that’s coming to her. What a bitch.